Thank you eveyone who stuck around and commented, you made me want to finish this story up!
I hope you enjoy the last chapter!
'You really should stop worrying or you'll pace a hole in the floor.' Sarah whipped around to stare at Josh, leaning against the parlour door with a wide grin on his face. She hadn't even heard him come in, something he was clearly aware of because his grin grew even wider. 'You're getting lax in your old age.'
'You wish,' she shot back, but without bite.
'It's going to be fine, Sarah,' Josh tried to assure her, but she just glared at him. He rolled his eyes. 'It will be. It's you and me and Nat. Just us. Like it used to be.'
'And my kids.'
'Well, yes. But they know us, so stop worrying. God, Sarah, you're overthinking this whole thing! It's a barbecue, we're not saving the world!'
If only you knew, Sarah thought with a tight smile, if only you knew. We just do that every day, the kids and me.
She had a remarkably bad feeling about the whole thing. The last few weeks had been quiet in terms of alien invasions, too quiet. It was almost as if everyone was waiting for the right moment, and she couldn't help but fear that it would be today, when she had Josh and Nat over, two unsuspecting civilians.
For all she had told Nat and Josh about the reason for the Order's existence and her own life, Sarah had done a surprisingly good job at staying clear of the whole alien rescue and defence thing. She didn't particularly like to think about the possibility of having to explain that to the two of them. It wouldn't be pretty, that much she was sure off.
Her thoughts were interrupted when the doorbell rang and she and Josh rushed out to greet Nat.
'Nat,' Jost greeted their friend and rushed out to help with the wheelchair. She gave him a warm smile.
'Hi Josh - Sarah.'
'Hold on a minute, Josh, before you get Nat inside. Why don't you go around into the garden, the kids are out already and I've set the table on the patio,' Sarah suggested and received two nods in response. She smiled and pulled the front door close before showing Nat and Josh around to the garden gate.
'I didn't see the garden the last time I was here,' Nat said once Sky had - rather enthusiastically - introduced Luke and then ran off again to mind the grill.
'Right, we were only in the kitchen.'
'Don't worry, Nat, I haven't seen much beside the kitchen and the living room either and I've been coming around for months now.' Josh gave Sarah a cheeky grin. 'She doesn't like people going upstairs.'
'Yes, well, there's nothing interesting there, is there? Just our bedrooms,' Sarah said with a shrug and mentally added 'and the attic,' which she was quite adamant neither of her friends would ever see. 'But I can show you the ground floor later, Nat.' Because Nat really hadn't seen anything beside the kitchen; this was the first time she was over since they met for tea.
'That would be nice, Sarah.' She smiled. 'I'd really like to see how you managed to fill up a whole house with stuff.' After all, her possessions used to fit in a few boxes, always ready to be packed at a moment's notice. But Nat's voice lacked any maliciousness, just genuine curiosity, so Sarah gave her a wink.
'Oh, you know,' she said, 'I used to do a lot of travelling. Had a whole storage unit filled with knick knacks from holidays and work trips. Plenty to decorate with, once I emptied it all out.'
'You'll have to tell us how some of them ended up in your possession. Knowing you, there's probably quite the story to each of them.'
'Yeah, SJ, tell us a bit about the wild adventures of your youth.'
'I don't think - Luke, what's wrong?' The moment her son came stumbling onto the patio with worry etched on his face, Sarah knew that things could only go south.
Luke gave their guests a quick glance as Sarah stepped towards him, but it seemed he deemed the situation more trouble than having to explain it to them afterwards.
'Mr Smith just picked up a signal from a spaceship that appeared in orbit right above us. It contacted him directly with a message for you. It's the Veil, mum.'
'What?!' Sarah's eyes widened in horror. She remembered all too well the last time the Veil had been on Earth, leaving to find themselves a new home with what was left of their population packed on a single spaceship. But even more clearly did she remember the pure terror she had felt the first time they encountered the Veil and Androvax had taken possession of her body, violated her in the worst way possible. She swallowed and fixed her eyes on her son. 'What do they want?'
'It was Androvax speaking. He said we poisoned his people, or Earth did. I think they're dead.'
'Oh no.' That wasn't good, not good at all. 'Did he say what he wants?'
'To hold us accountable. Hold you accountable, I think - he said he's coming here.'
'Damn it.' The cogs in her mind were starting to turn, working out a way to fix this situation. Automatically, her back straightened and her stance widened, showing nothing but strength and determination. Even though Sarah wasn't even aware of it, it was visible across the garden and made Josh give Nat a worried look before turning back to Sarah.
'SJ, is everything okay - what's that noise?'
'Damn it,' Sarah repeated and, ignoring her friends, flipped open her beeping watch. Luke leaned over and they shared a look. Impact in 360 seconds. They had six minutes before Androvax arrived.
'What do we do, mum?'
There was no hesitation in Sarah's voice when she fixed her eyes on Josh and Nat. 'Josh. Take Nat upstairs. Into the attic - don't ask questions, we don't have time. Sky?'
'Yes, mum?'
'Go with Josh and Nat,' Sarah instructed. 'Have Mr Smith call the Judoon, they can come and pick up their prisoner. And fast. Go! Now!' Keeping her daughter and her friends safe was her first priority right now and there must have been something about the way that Sky didn't ask questions and just did as she was told that made Josh do the same. He bend down to pick the protesting Nat from her wheelchair and, with a strange look at Sarah, followed Sky inside and upstairs.
Suddenly, it was only Sarah and Luke left in the garden, their barbecue forgotten at the prospect of yet another alien trying to destroy their home.
'He had to pick today, did he?' Luke quipped and even Sarah couldn't stop the small smile that tucked at her lips at that.
'Of course he did. Lets just hope we can hold him until the Judoon get here - how they are so inept at keeping their prisoners secure, I will never understand.'
'Do you have a plan?' He made no effort to hide the worry in his voice as he glanced at his mother and she sighed, squeezed his arm.
'No. But we'll make do. We always do. We have K-9, don't we?'
'Affirmative, Mistress.' Next to the french doors, the air shimmered and then K-9 became visible. 'Stealth mode deactivated,' he informed them, and then went on with, 'Veil space capsule approaching. Impact in 30 seconds.'
They could see it already, the capsule growing bigger with every second as it came closer and closer.
'I love you, Luke,' Sarah said, her eyes fixed on the black dot in the sky and this time, he squeezed her hand.
'We'll be fine, mum.'
Nat had clung to Josh as he rushed up the stairs behind Sky, a little out of breath by the time they reached the top landing. No wonder Sarah was in such great shape, he thought idly, if she took all these stairs every day.
His eyebrows rose when Sky led them to the closed door on the left. He had expected the attic to just be the top floor, but apparently, it really was an attic. His glance dropped to Nat, who looked just as confused as he felt and probably a good portion more terrified because without her wheelchair, she needed help to get anywhere.
'Close the door behind you!' Sky called at them and Josh rolled his eyes before following her inside and turning back to do as she asked. Nat's gasp made his head snap around and finally he, too, saw what had his friend wide eyed and gaping.
The attic was beautiful, the shelves along the walls full of books and strange objects. There were pictures up on the wooden beams and everything seemed warm and homey. But what had both him and Nat gasping was the sheer amount of artifacts the likes of which neither of them had ever seen before. On one table an experiment was set up and Josh, who prided himself in knowing a bit about chemistry, had never heard of the names the labels on the bottles read.
'Nat, you can sit on the sofa,' Sky instructed, oblivious to their shock, and jumped down the two steps towards the chimney. 'Mr Smith,' she called, and both Josh and Nat remembered Sarah's sketchy explanation about her computer, 'I need you.'
Had he not let Nat down onto the sofa just seconds before, Josh was sure he would have dropped her as suddenly, with fanfare and smoke, the chimney pulled itself apart and a gigantic computer took its place.
'Yes, Sky?' came a disembodied voice that no doubt belonged to the computer. 'How can I help you? Are you aware there are two strangers behind you?'
'That's Josh and Nat. Mum told them to come up here - you told K-9 to tell Luke to tell mum about Androvax, didn't you?'
'I did indeed.'
'She's waiting for him with Luke, so could you please call the Judoon and ask them to collect him?'
'Of course. I'm sending the message now.'
'Thank you, Mr Smith.' Sky beamed at the computer, then bit her lip. 'Mr Smith, could you get us a video of mum and Luke, maybe?'
'Of course, Sky. Installing the link now.' Seconds later, the screen was filled with the image of the garden, looking just like they had left it minutes ago. Except it didn't.
'What is that?!' Nat shrieked and pointed at the screen.
'That is one of the Veil. His name is Androvax and he is a criminal convicted for destroying dozens of planets. The last time he was around, he was dying but it would appear he found a way to avoid that. The Judoon will be here in seven minutes to collect him.'
Sarah Jane and Luke stood on the patio, their attention on a creature unlike anything Josh or Nat had ever seen before. It was about as tall as Josh but yellow and scaly, dressed in odd looking clothes though. There was no audio but it seemed like the creature was talking. Sarah's eyes had narrowed and the expression on her face made Josh shudder.
Suddenly, the creature, the veil lunged forth. At the same moment, Luke pushed his mother to the side and Sarah stumbled into one of the chairs. By the time she was standing again, the creature had disappeared.
'Luke?' Sarah asked carefully, but by Luke's posture she already knew that he wouldn't answer.
'He's mine now,' Luke - Androvax - said and twisted Luke's face into a cold grin. Had her own face looked like that when Androvax had taken over her body? Had she looked so much like herself and yet so very different that there was no question that it was someone else inhabiting her body in her stead? 'Brilliant, such a brilliant mind,' he hissed, his tongue flicking out of Luke's mouth. The only physical proof that he was now in her son's body.
'Leave him!' She hissed, furious. The only time she could remember being this angry and willing to hurt someone was when the Slitheen-Blathereen had almost killed Luke. This, she knew, was almost as bad.
'Mhm….no.' Androvax cackled. 'I think I rather like this body. I think I shall stay in it for a while.' He cocked Luke's head. 'It pains you, doesn't it, to see me take over your son.'
'Yes.' There was no point denying it, really, it was all too obvious. 'So leave him alone. I'm still here instead -'
'You're old.' Androvax gave her another cold grin that made her shudder - it looked so wrong on her sweet son's face. 'He's young, fresh, strong. You're too defiant.'
Sarah remembered that, too, the constant fight against Androvax in her mind. He had taken over her body and accessed almost all her memories but if her travels with the Doctor had taught her anything, it was how to protect her mind. It took a while but eventually, she learned. Once upon a time, her mind might have been easily suggestible but she had practiced and learned, finally, to keep others out. Even when someone else was taking over her active thoughts, her deepest, most precious feelings were kept locked away in the depth of her mind.
With Androvax, it had been different. He hadn't just taken over her mind to control her, he had taken over her entire being. And she had fought him, every second that he was there. There were some things he had not managed to reach and when he tried, she had managed to break through, take control for a few seconds.
But Luke had none of that experience - no matter how brilliant her son was, he wouldn't have a chance against Androvax.
Then, suddenly, the garden gate flew open. It wasn't the Judoon. It was Gita.
Luke - Androvax -whirled around and spotted her, then, like a flash, left Luke's body and slipped into Gita.
Sarah reacted instinctively. 'K-9, close the gate!' She called, caught her half collapsing son and pushed him to sit in one of the chairs. Gita hadn't even had the chance to greet them, let alone register what was going on, before Androvax had slipped into her. It wasn't the first time for her either and unlike Sarah, she had never seemed to remember the last time. Which meant that once they had gotten Androvax out of her and collected by the Judoon, they would probably be able to get her home without her becoming suspicious. It helped, of course, that Rani could cover for them. Clyde had taken her to an art exhibition in the afternoon, and then dinner after. He had been so sweet about it, Sarah thought idly, he had come to her to ask for advice on how to properly plan a date. Hopefully, that was going better than their afternoon.
Once she had made sure that Luke was fine, if a little dazed, Sarah turned to Gita - Androvax - who looked oddly amused. K-9 had his nuzzle pointed at them, ready to attack if Androvax dared to move, not that there was much he could actually do without hurting Gita in the process.
Eyes narrowed, Sarah flipped her watch open to scan her - she seemed alright. Before she could think of anything to say, however, the watch began to beep and K-9 piped up.
'Arrival of Judoon spacecraft imminent,' he announced.
The capsule appeared above them and then slowly lowered itself on the ground. Up in the attic, Nat once again shrieked when she saw the creatures that exited the craft.
'That's rhinoceroses!'
'It's the Judoon,' Sky corrected, utterly undeterred by Nat's shock and Josh's disbelief. 'They work for the Shadow Proclamation.' When she saw their bewildered faces, she shrugged. 'Mum says their goal is universal peace in this time.'
'They're getting disbanded in the late 57th century, but they're quick to be replaced by other organisations,' explained Mr Smith calmly, as if it was perfectly normal for him to tell them things that would happen 3000 years in the future. Then again, Josh thought, considering what they were seeing there, perhaps it was normal. Hell, even he had already accepted that this Mr Smith was some sort of artificial intelligence helping Sarah out with whatever she was doing up here in her attic.
Both of them were so preoccupied with the rhinos in space suits that they hadn't actually seen how Sarah had ordered K-9 to give Gita a gentle zap and the Judoon extracting Androvax from her once she had gone stiff. Luke had gotten back onto his legs by then and helped his mother sit Gita on the garden bench just a few steps from the gate. Unlike Luke, she was completely out of it, thanks to K-9's zap.
Within minutes, the Judoon had Androvax in chains and were loading him into their craft. Sarah gave them a hard look, telling them off, then the doors of their ship closed and they were gone again.
Sarah sighed deeply. 'K-9?'
'Yes, mistress?'
'Can you please put a perception filter on Androvax's capsule over there? I'll call Kate, UNIT can send someone to clear that up. It's too big for the attic.'
'Affirmative, mistress.'
'Luke? Are you alright?' Now that the imminent danger was over, Sarah finally had the chance to look over her son, making sure that he was unharmed.
He nodded. 'I'm fine, mum. It was a bit uncomfortable but it wasn't for long. I'm fine, promise.'
She clearly didn't believe him but she didn't protest either and instead allowed him to pull her inside and towards the stairs. Gita, outside, would eventually wake up with no memory. Caught snooping again, they'd tell her. It wouldn't be the first time - yet even at her worst, Gita wasn't nearly half as bad as Chrissy had been.
'Sorry about that,' Sarah said as she and Luke entered the attic. 'Are you both alright?' She gave Josh and Nat a questioning look and they responded with silent nods, too baffled still to voice and answer. Sarah didn't seem to care very much but rather stepped towards the chimney with the computer and pulled her daughter, who was still standing in front of it, in her arms and dropped a kiss on her hair. 'Thank you, Sky. You did great - and thank you too, Mr Smith.'
'Of course, Sarah Jane. I am only fulfilling my purpose.'
'I know. Would you please give me a direct video link to Kate at UNIT? Thank you.'
They watched in silence as a string of numbers appeared on the screen, then the sound of a telefone and then, after a few seconds, a blonde woman appeared on the screen.
'Hello Aunt Sarah,' she greeted, slightly exasperated. 'I take it this is about the two alien spacecrafts that went down over Ealing?'
'Yes. One of them left, but UNIT can have the other one.'
'I'll send someone over -'
'But no guns!' There was a note of warning in Sarah's voice that made the other woman huff and her kids snicker.
'It's not funny,' she said and rolled her eyes. 'I don't know what you did to them the last time - my people still haven't gotten them to work again.'
'We soniced them,' Sky said with a wide grin. 'Mum said they shouldn't bring them.'
'Yes, I did.'
'Well, they've learned their lesson. I'll send someone over - do you need anything else? You have guests, don't you?'
'Josh, Nat, this is Kate Lethbridge-Steward, chief scientist and head of UNIT. Kate, Josh and Nat.'
'Nice to meet you,' Kate gave them a small wave and, still befuddled by the whole situation, they waved back. Smiling now, Kate turned back to Sarah. 'Someone should be over within the hour.'
'Thank you.'
'Anytime. You're doing half our job.'
'Bye, Kate!' Sky waved at her, then the screen turned black and with a nod from Sarah the whole contraption that was Mr Smith folded itself back together and disappeared, leaving only the brick wall and the chimney behind.
Josh and Nat stared as Sarah gestured for the kids to leave them alone and then pulled a chair for herself to sit, looking at them. She didn't look sorry like one would, perhaps have thought, just a little resigned as she shrugged.
'Ask. I know you have questions.'
For a moment, Josh and Nat just looked at her, then at each other. Neither of them even knew where to start but eventually it was Nat who first spoke up.
'You weren't kidding,' she said slowly, 'when you said you had travelled the Universe. You really weren't kidding.'
'No. I wasn't.'
'So those -' she nodded in the vague direction of the garden, '- were aliens?'
'Yes. A veil and the Judoon.'
'And there are more out there?'
'The universe is a beautiful place,' Sarah said softly. 'Full of wonders and fantastic creatures. Some of the people I ment were kind, some were cruel - some were just misunderstood, some were almost distinct already by the time I met them. Humanity is going to exist for a very long time to come - I have a friend who was born in the 51st century.'
'That's in the future,' Josh said slowly, his eyes never moving from Sarah. She just shrugged.
'Yes. Humans invent time travel in about 2000 years but there are other species who've already had it for millenia.'
'Are you from the future?' It would have been a ridiculous question but really, given the situation, it wasn't all that surprising.
Slowly, Sarah shook her head. 'No. I was born in 1951.' She tilted her head, thoughtfully considering her next words. 'I already told you that, Nat - I met a time traveller, the Doctor. He took me to see the universe when we weren't busy saving the Earth from, well, aliens and humans alike. Remember Antarctica, Josh?'
'Of course I do. You nearly died.'
'I went before, with the Doctor - I thought that's what they found there. Not uranium - Krynoid seeds.' She shuddered at the memory and shook her head at their questioning looks. 'You don't want to know.'
'So you just want us to be what, okay with all this?' Josh's voice was sharp and Sarah could understand his anger. He was hurt - she had denied, for years, that there was such a thing as the herald, let alone that it was her, and yet here she was, in an attic full of alien artifacts protecting the world.
'No,' she said slowly, 'but you have to understand - when I met the two of you, I had thought I had left all of this -' she waved at the attic, '- behind. Not by choice, I was angry and left and the Doctor never came back for me. But once you've seen the universe, you can't turn your back on it again. It's what we do now, me and the kids. We protect Earth and watch for those visitors form out there who might need our help.'
'So you are the herald.' It wasn't a question and this time, Sarah realised that she couldn't answer it simply with no. Not after what they had just witnessed.
'I suppose,' she said instead, 'that the woman - SJS - that Giuliano talked about, yes, that is me. We met, I told him about the future. We helped him out and then we were off again. I didn't know, in Florence, that the whole Order business was connected to him. I should have told both of you about this, but be honest - would you have believed me?'
Josh nodded but Nat, who had heard part of the story before, shook her head. Sarah gave her a pointed look.
'See? We should all have been honest with each other about this but we each only had half the truth, had the story, Josh - there's no such thing as the herald because the only thing Giuliano wanted was to warn us in the future and hope that I would come across his book. I should have read the entire thing after Florence - that's what it was all about.'
'So you're saying,' Josh said slowly, 'that you're the herald in the book but that there is no herald at all.'
'Yes.'
'This whole thing is a mess,' Nat said softly and gave Sarah a strange look. 'You were right not to tell us about this. I like to think I'd have believed you but...I wouldn't have. Josh, you might have, but be honest, would you have told Sarah why you believed her? No, because you thought you had to keep her safe. And I think it's fair to say that you don't need anyone to keep you safe, Sarah.'
'So what are we going to do now?'
'Just be friends?' Nat suggested and Josh nodded slowly.
'I'd like that.'
'I'd like that too,' Sarah agreed softly and Nat smiled. She held out her hand and Sarah grabbed it, gave it a gentle squeeze.
'I still have a lot of questions,' Josh said slowly and looked at Sarah. 'Starting with, where did you get that computer from and where can I get one?'
'What would you even do with a computer like that? You can barely even turn on your phone!'
'Oi! That's not true - tell her, SJ, I can use my phone!'
'Well…'
'See! Sarah agrees with me! So, where can I get a computer like that?'
'Oh, he's one of a kind, sorry Nat. But maybe he'll allow you to link your devices to him? I'll ask later, but let's have our barbecue first?'
'And what about me?'
'You, Josh,' Sarah said and gave him a teasing smile, 'should learn to use your phone properly first.'
Josh gaped at her and then turned to glare at Nat, who had dissolved into giggles. 'Yeah, laugh at me, I'll show you,' he muttered before carefully picking Nat up to get her back downstairs to her wheelchair.
Not long after, they were all sitting around the table on the patio, laughing and chatting, Josh and Nat hesitantly but curiously asking question upon question about their alien encounters. Watching them, Sarah couldn't help but smile contently. Maybe they weren't quite alright yet, but they would be. No more secrets, no more lies.
Just some old friends, apart for too long because they didn't dare be honest, back together again. And this time, it seemed like things would stay that way, too.